Bandar Kuching MP Chong Chieng Jen has taken to task Sarawak Chinese leaders who gripe about the loss of rights and representation in the government following the GE tsunami.
Sarawak United Peoples Party (SUPP) veteran and a five-term MP, Yong was persuaded out of ‘retirement’ to defend his Stampin seat but suffered an embarrassing loss last Sunday.
Yong 73, polled 22,993 polls against DAP greenhorn and aerospace engineer Julian Tan’s 41,663 votes.
Chastising these Chinese leaders over their “shameful” claims that Yong’s defeat meant “loss of special development funds for the community and no more rights”, DAP secretary Chong Chieng Jen questioned these stalwart’s perspectives.
“How much is the (special) allocation per year? How much do they receive as a society a year? Is it RM5 million?
“Divide the amount you receive by the number of your members in the society, it will come to, in some cases, less than RM10 or RM20 per person.
“Because of this amount, you are asking the people to support Barisan Nasional, while at the same time you complain that the rural voters can be bought with money between RM100 and RM200 per voter.
“It seems that their value in calling for the people to support Barisan is cheaper in terms of value of the money the rural voters received.
“So it is very embarrassing and shameful (for these leaders) to make such a call,” said Chong, who retained his Bandar Kuching parliamentary seat in last Sunday’s polls.
No ‘loss’ of rights
He pointed out that as per process, any requests for special grants from any parliamentary allocations still had to be submitted to the district office regardless of whether the constituency is under Pakatan Rakyat or Barisan Nasional.
“As such it is very demeaning for these leaders to make such a call or to express such worries.
“Most importantly, these societies and associations are mainly financed by members, businessmen and by the private sector,” he said.
Chong said it was wrong to claim that by voting in the opposition, the Chinese “rights” would be affected and that the community would “lose their representation in the government”.
“This is one of the most foolish statements I have ever heard.
“Let me ask these community leaders what are the Chinese rights they would lose if there are no Chinese cabinet ministers?
“What sort of rights are they going to lose? Is it their right to education, the economy, the right to practise their culture and religion or their right to earn a living?
“They are making sweeping statement thinking that the people will believe it.
“You can see the foolishness of these statements because the rights the Chinese community have been asking for is the recognition of the Chinese United Examination Certificate (UEC), fair allocation to Chinese and Mission schools, fair equitable economic opportunities, and open tenders all of the government projects and these have not been accorded.
“So what rights have you to lose,” he said.
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